A heroin addict who used a blood-filled syringe to steal £30 from a taxi-driver has been jailed for six years by Judge Frank O'Donnell at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.
Raymond O'Connor, who has a £100-a-day habit, is seriously ill and has been diagnosed as suffering from hepatitis C as a result of his chronic drug addiction, the court heard.
O'Connor (24), of Harelawn Avenue, Clondalkin pleaded guilty to a series of robberies and also to one charge of having £5,000 worth of heroin for sale or supply.
He was before the court on five bills of indictment and had seven previous convictions. Garda Des Kenny said O'Connor used blood-filled syringes and a knife in robberies. Judge O'Donnell praised "the great generosity of spirit" shown by Garda Kenny who told the court O'Connor "wasn't really a bad sort of person" when not on drugs. Garda Kenny told prosecuting counsel Ms Una McGurk and Mr Fergal Kavanagh he had known O'Connor for about 12 years. He came from a respectable family and was the only one of them in trouble with the law. His parents did all they could for him and his father was in court for the hearing.
Garda Kenny agreed with defence counsel Ms Isobel Kennedy that O'Connor had made many efforts to end his chronic heroin habit but had failed. Ms Kennedy said O'Connor began drinking as a teenager and moved to smoking heroin before becoming a chronic addict. She asked the court "to take pity" on him and said she believed he could respond to a strict regime.